[15fan]

Originally Posted by M2

Mesoraco, like any high school catcher, is an extremely long-term project. Catchers are almost always shaky draft picks. There aren't many good ones in the majors, so it's no surprise that catching prospects have pretty much the highest washout rate in the game. Mesoraco's obviously got some plusses, but he's not a Joe Mauer or Johnny Bench type of athlete (almost no one is). The Reds got him at #15 because his talent wasn't off the charts -- good, but not off the charts.

He played his high school ball in a baseball backwater. This is a big step up for him. He might not start settling in to professional ball until 2009 or 2010. Now, he might prove worthwhile in the end, but he's not going to pay any dividends until well into the next decade. Expect him to spend a few years off the prospect radar.

He's a high risk, long haul pick. There's the natural tendency to throw "high reward" in there, but:

1) You can say that about every player taken in the first few rounds of the draft.
2) "High reward" is a bit a of B.S. term. The younger and less defined a kid is, the easier it is to pretend the sky's the limit. Most of the time people use the term, it means nothing.
3) Anybody who can become a productive major league regular offers a high reward.

Sounds a lot like Joey Votto.